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has·sle

(hăsəl) Informal

1. An argument or a fight.

2. Trouble; bother.

v. has·sled, has·sling, has·sles

v.intr.

To argue or fight: customers hassling with merchants over high prices.

v.tr.

To bother or harass: street gangs hassling passersby.

[From American dialectal (Southeast) hassle, to pant (as from exertion), perhaps of imitative origin or akin to British dialectal hassle, to hack at, saw away at with a blunt blade.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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